Sufi Cults and the Evolution of Medieval Indian Culture
Sufi Cults and the Evolution of Medieval Indian Culture

Author: Anup Taneja

Publisher: Northern Book Centre

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Presents various facets of the evolution and spread of the Sufi influence in India and a critical evaluation of the role played by the Sufi saints (belonging to different silsilas) both by way of disseminating the Sufi ideology among the Indian masses and also assimilating and imbibing into their own ideology some of the indigenous spiritual practices and techniques as practised by the Hindu yogis and siddhas, thus paving the way in the process for the establishment of a pluralist society in India on a firm footing. Among the galaxy of Sufi saints who came to India, the four names which stand out prominently are Shaikh Mu’in-ud-Din Chishti, Shaikh Farid-ud-Din Ganj-i-Shakar (Baba Farid), Shaikh Nizam-ud-Din Auliya and Amir Khusrau. Shaikh Mu’in-ud-Din came to India at the close of the twelfth century. On the occasion of his ‘urs, lakhs of people congregate to pay obeisance to the great Sufi master at his dargah in Ajmer. Today the dargahs of the great Sufi masters have become objects of veneration and places of pilgrimage for lakhs of devout people owing allegiance to different religious belief systems. These holy places stand as epitomes of communal harmony and universal love and brotherhood.

Sufism, Culture, and Politics
Sufism, Culture, and Politics

Author: Raziuddin Aquil

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-09-24

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0199087849

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book provides a political history of north India under Afghan rulers in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Focusing on interconnections between religion and politics, it also raises questions of paramount concern to an understanding of Islam in medieval north India. The book is divided into three sections. The first section explores the Afghan attempts at empire-building under the leadership of Sher Shah Sur. Discussing the incorporation of the Rajputs in the Afghan imperial project, the second part deals with the prevalent ideals and institutions of governance. The last segment investigates the social and political role of the Sufis. Questioning the overemphasis on the Sultanate and Mughal periods in Indian history writing, Aquil projects a dynamic view of the Afghan period.

The Making of Medieval Panjab
The Making of Medieval Panjab

Author: Surinder Singh

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-09-30

Total Pages: 485

ISBN-13: 1000760685

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book seeks to reconstruct the past of undivided Panjab during five medieval centuries. It opens with a narrative of the efforts of Turkish warlords to achieve control in the face of tribal resistance, internal dissensions and external invasions. It examines the linkages of the ruling class with Zamindars and Sufis, paving the way for canal irrigation and agrarian expansion, thus strengthening the roots of the state in the region. While focusing on the post-Timur phase, it tries to make sense of the new ways of acquiring political power. This work uncovers the perpetual attempts of Zamindars to achieve local dominance, particularly in the context of declining presence of the state in the countryside. In this ambitious enterprise, they resorted to the support of their clans, adherence to hallowed customs and recurrent use of violence, all applied through a system of collective and participatory decision-making. The volume traces the growth of Sufi lineages built on training disciples, writing books, composing poetry and claiming miraculous powers. Besides delving into the relations of the Sufis with the state and different sections of the society, it offers an account of the rituals at a prominent shrine. Paying equal attention to the southeastern region, it deals with engagement of the Sabiris, among other exemplars, with the Islamic spirituality. Inclusive in approach and lucid in expression, the work relies on a wide range of evidence from Persian chronicles, Sufi literature and folklore, some of which have been used for the first time. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Sufi Rituals and Practices
Sufi Rituals and Practices

Author: Kashshaf Ghani

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2024-03-29

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0192889222

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book explores the institution of Sufism, the most dynamic face of Islam in the Indian subcontinent, as it sets out to study the mystical rituals and devotional practices that characterize Sufism's beliefs and traditions.

Witness to Marvels
Witness to Marvels

Author: Tony K. Stewart

Publisher: University of California Press

Published: 2019-09-13

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 0520306333

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. There is a vast body of imaginal literature in Bengali that introduces fictional Sufi saints into the complex mythological world of Hindu gods and goddesses. Dating to the sixteenth century, the stories—pīr katha—are still widely read and performed today. The events that play out rival the fabulations of the Arabian Nights, which has led them to be dismissed as simplistic folktales, yet the work of these stories is profound: they provide fascinating insight into how Islam habituated itself into the cultural life of the Bangla-speaking world. In Witness to Marvels, Tony K. Stewart unearths the dazzling tales of Sufi saints to signal a bold new perspective on the subtle ways Islam assumed its distinctive form in Bengal.

Sufism and Society
Sufism and Society

Author: John Curry

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-06-12

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 1136659048

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In recent years, many historians of Islamic mysticism have been grappling in sophisticated ways with the difficulties of essentialism. Reconceptualising the study of Islamic mysticism during an under-researched period of its history, this book examines the relationship between Sufism and society in the Muslim world, from the fall of the Abbasid caliphate to the heyday of the great Ottoman, Mughal and Safavid empires. Treating a heretofore under-researched period in the history of Sufism, this work establishes previously unimagined trajectories for the study of mystical movements as social actors of real historical consequence. Thematically organized, the book includes case studies drawn from the Middle Eastern, Turkic, Persian and South Asian regions by a group of scholars whose collective expertise ranges widely across different historical, geographical, and linguistic landscapes. Chapters theorise why, how, and to what ends we might reconceptualise some of the basic methodologies, assumptions, categories of thought, and interpretative paradigms which have heretofore shaped treatments of Islamic mysticism and its role in the social, cultural and political history of pre-modern Muslim societies. Proposing novel and revisionist treatments of the subject based on the examination of many under-utilized sources, the book draws on a number of disciplinary perspectives and methodological approaches, from art history to religious studies. As such, it will appeal to students and scholars of Middle East studies, religious history, Islamic studies and Sufism.

Shi'a Islam in Colonial India
Shi'a Islam in Colonial India

Author: Justin Jones

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-10-24

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1139501232

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Interest in Shi'a Islam has increased greatly in recent years, although Shi'ism in the Indian subcontinent has remained largely underexplored. Focusing on the influential Shi'a minority of Lucknow and the United Provinces, a region that was largely under Shi'a rule until 1856, this book traces the history of Indian Shi'ism through the colonial period toward independence in 1947. Drawing on a range of new sources, including religious writing, polemical literature and clerical biography, it assesses seminal developments including the growth of Shi'a religious activism, madrasa education, missionary activity, ritual innovation and the politicization of the Shi'a community. As a consequence of these significant religious and social transformations, a Shi'a sectarian identity developed that existed in separation from rather than in interaction with its Sunni counterparts. In this way the painful birth of modern sectarianism was initiated, the consequences of which are very much alive in South Asia today.

Sufi Institutions
Sufi Institutions

Author: Alexandre Papas

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-11-30

Total Pages: 458

ISBN-13: 9004392602

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume describes the social and practical aspects of Islamic mysticism (Sufism) across centuries and geographical regions. Its authors seek to transcend ethereal, essentialist and “spiritualizing” approaches to Sufism, on the one hand, and purely pragmatic and materialistic explanations of its origins and history, on the other. Covering five topics (Sufism’s economy, social role of Sufis, Sufi spaces, politics, and organization), the volume shows that mystics have been active socio-religious agents who could skillfully adjust to the conditions of their time and place, while also managing to forge an alternative way of living, worshiping and thinking. Basing themselves on the most recent research on Sufi institutions, the contributors to this volume substantially expand our understanding of the vicissitudes of Sufism by paying special attention to its organizational and economic dimensions, as well as complex and often ambivalent relations between Sufis and the societies in which they played a wide variety of important and sometimes critical roles. Contributors are Mehran Afshari, Ismail Fajrie Alatas, Semih Ceyhan, Rachida Chih, Nathalie Clayer, David Cook, Stéphane A. Dudoignon, Daphna Ephrat, Peyvand Firouzeh, Nathan Hofer, Hussain Ahmad Khan, Catherine Mayeur-Jaouen, Richard McGregor, Ahmet Yaşar Ocak, Alexandre Papas, Luca Patrizi, Paulo G. Pinto, Adam Sabra, Mark Sedgwick, Jean-Jacques Thibon, Knut S. Vikør and Neguin Yavari

Yoga Powers
Yoga Powers

Author: Knut A. Jacobsen

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2011-09-30

Total Pages: 533

ISBN-13: 9004212140

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The book offers a number of new insights in the history of yoga powers in the South Asian religious traditions, analyzes the position of the powers in the salvific process and in conceptions of divinity, and explores the rational explanations of the powers provided by the traditions.

Prof. H.C. Raychaudhuri, as a Historian
Prof. H.C. Raychaudhuri, as a Historian

Author: Harihar Panda

Publisher: Northern Book Centre

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 9788172112103

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book, Prof. H.C. Raychaudhuri as a Historian, is a milestone in the field of Indian historiography. Prof. H.C. Raychaudhuri was a distinguished scholar and academician. His Political History of Ancient India has deserved commendation from the students and scholars of India and abroad. He had reconstructed the history of ancient India through his thorough research. He had given a toe challenge to the colonial historiography. The most neglected aspect of Indian History was the historical geography which Prof. Raychaudhuri analysed vividly and opened new horizons for the scholars of the land to pursue further research in this field. His critical analysis on Indian religion, particularly on Vaishnavism, has earned him immortal fame. For his erudition, he became the member of many learned societies of India including Indian History Congress and served in various capacities contributing in his own way to the growth of knowledge. This book, revealing the contributions of Prof. H.C. Raychaudhuri to the historiography of India, will be indispensable for the students and teachers of Indian historiography. Salient Features (i) Objectivity is the forte of the book. This objective analysis is however done in an intimitably lucid style that makes this book irresistably readable. (ii) Welcome light has been thrown on the virgin topics which had been taken up by Prof. Raychaudhuri for analysis. (iii) It is a treasure-house for any student or teacher of Historiography and Indology. (iv) The works of a 'first class mind' have been evaluated with a critical and analytical manner. (v) A clear picture of India' s rich cultural heritage of the past has been projected through the analysis of the works of Prof. Raychaudhuri. (Vi) A peep into the pages of the book will acquaint the readers with the profound scholarship of Prof. H.C. Raychaudhuri as a historian.